In the lexicon of human migration there are still hierarchical words, created with the purpose of putting white people above everyone else. One of those remnants is the word â€œexpatâ€.

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What is an expat? And who is an expat? According to Wikipedia, â€œan expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country other than that of the personâ€™s upbringing. The word comes from the Latin terms ex (â€˜out ofâ€™) and patria (â€˜country, fatherlandâ€™)â€.

Defined that way, you should expect that any person going to work outside of his or her country for a period of time would be an expat, regardless of his skin colour or country. But that is not the case in reality; expat is a term reserved exclusively for western white people going to work abroad.

Africans are immigrants. Arabs are immigrants. Asians are immigrants. However, Europeans are expats because they canâ€™t be at the same level as other ethnicities. They are superior. Immigrants is a term set aside for â€˜inferior racesâ€™.

Donâ€™t take my word for it. The Wall Street Journal, the leading financial information magazine in the world, has a blog dedicated to the life of expats and recently they featured a story â€˜Who is an expat, anyway?â€™. Here are the main conclusions: â€œSome arrivals are described as expats; others as immigrants; and some simply as migrants. It depends on social class, country of origin and economic status. Itâ€™s strange to hear some people in Hong Kong described as expats, but not others. Anyone with roots in a western country is considered an expat â€¦ Filipino domestic helpers are just guests, even if theyâ€™ve been here for decades. Mandarin-speaking mainland Chinese are rarely regarded as expats â€¦ Itâ€™s a double standard woven into official policy.â€

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The reality is the same in Africa and Europe. Top African professionals going to work in Europe are not considered expats. They are immigrants. Period. â€œI work for multinational organisations both in the private and public sectors. And being black or coloured doesnâ€™t gain me the term â€œexpatâ€. Iâ€™m a highly qualified immigrant, as they call me, to be politically correct,â€ says an African migrant worker.

Most white people deny that they enjoy the privileges of a racist system. And why not? But our responsibility is to point out and to deny them these privileges, directly related to an outdated supremacist ideology. If you see those â€œexpatsâ€ in Africa, call them immigrants like everyone else. If that hurts their white superiority, they can jump in the air and stay there. The political deconstruction of this outdated worldview must continue.

Mawuna Remarque Koutonin is the editor of SiliconAfrica.com, where this blog was first published.

Re: Why are white people expatriates when the rest of us are immigrant

The British abroad: expats, not immigrants

Ritwik Deo

The British living abroad see themselves as expats rather than immigrants â€“ but Indians in the UK don't get that choice

A retired British couple living in Costa Blanca, Spain.

If you only read the British media, you would think there are no British immigrants anywhere in the world. Instead, there are only legions upon legions of expats.

The word conjures up groups ripening in the sun on recliners by the pool, lounging in bars festooned with union flags, combing foreign supermarket aisles for Marmite and HP Sauce, and decrying bronzed natives and their lack of work ethic.

For a year or two I fancied I was an expat myself. I came from India to study at St Andrews on a bursary. I mingled with classmates who had multiple passports, whose parents were expats in Zurich, Dubai, New York and Tokyo. But as I marvelled at the ease with which they glided into France, took trains in Croatia and made friends with Bedouins in Jordan, I was having protracted arguments with customs, who jabbed at my documents every time I tried to nip over to Ireland or France.

Such treatment made me realise I would never been an expat â€“ only an immigrant. It seems it's impossible to be an Indian expatriate. Even Lakshmi Mittal, the richest man in Britain, and an Indian passport holder, wouldn't dare to call himself an expat.

So what is the difference? It seems expats have a special prerogative. It is an entitlement with far-reaching consequences. Not long ago, I won a free trip to the Caribbean. On my flight was a senior executive from a large London-listed company heading back to his tax-haven paradise in the Bahamas. He had been an expat for nearly 25 years. The Londoner loathed Britain and its tax regime. He foamed at the mouth and gesticulated wildly as he nursed a glass with fluctuating levels of scotch.

I learned of his disgust at the dross pouring into his once-beloved country and the horrifying prospect of them benefiting from his tax money. I nodded gamely as he told me how he hated immigrants and wished they would all bugger off to where they came from. Then he leaned back, closed his eyes, clucked his tongue, and said: "It's a good thing we have tame natives in the Caribbean. None of that PC nonsense."

The irony of complaining about immigrants in their own country while living the life of an expat escapes the British. I don't blame them. It is mere cognitive dissonance born out of centuries of dominion over large swaths of the world. From Delhi to Darfur, the correct way to drape a napkin on your knees or manipulate dinner cutlery was the British way. The Indian just off the plane at Heathrow, the Pakistani out for his maiden walk on Oxford Street, the Lithuanian finding his way around St Pancras are all too acutely aware that this is not their country. They must ingratiate themselves as soon as possible. Our expat has no such dislocations.

Australia, Canada, America, New Zealand and scores of pins and flags on the world map were once firmly and exclusively Anglo-Saxon in identity. Not any more. The last few decades have seen planes and boats disgorge people of other, newer ethnicities, and they and their children have gained momentum in their adopted countries. In face of this rising demographic pressure there is an even more urgent need to distinguish themselves as British.

Re: Why are white people expatriates when the rest of us are immigrant

When Prabha Arun Kumar was murdered walking back home in suburban Sydney, Australian media and websites condescended that 'she was trying to make a better life for her family back in India'.

They conveniently forgot that Pralha was a professional woman on an assignment with an Indian tech company and that she was not in Australia because of a job offer by Australia. Further, Australian supercilious racial arrogance deviously forgot that she was desperate to return home to her daughter.

She was from India and so the narrative deeply ingrained is that life much be terrible and it is only in the white world could she find her fortunes and be rid of her poverty - a narrative that is embedded in the White world psyche.

It maybe mentioned that Valerie Wagoner started ZipDial in India to make her and her family's better, profitable and Satisfying. But then she was an 'expat', and not an 'immigrant', right?

When Prabha Arun Kumar was murdered walking back home in suburban Sydney, Australian media and websites condescended that 'she was trying to make a better life for her family back in India'.

They conveniently forgot that Pralha was a professional woman on an assignment with an Indian tech company and that she was not in Australia because of a job offer by Australia. Further, Australian supercilious racial arrogance deviously forgot that she was desperate to return home to her daughter.

She was from India and so the narrative deeply ingrained is that life much be terrible and it is only in the white world could she find her fortunes and be rid of her poverty - a narrative that is embedded in the White world psyche.

It maybe mentioned that Valerie Wagoner started ZipDial in India to make her and her family's better, profitable and Satisfying. But then she was an 'expat', and not an 'immigrant', right?

When wil the white world quit fooling themselves?

Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

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Your moral outrage is not without merit, but understand this: most of the time a person of color goes to 'white' countries for a better life. This woman's case is an exception, but then again perceptions are often based upon repeated occurrences. Since most Indians abroad are workers, people are going to make that assumption every time a story about Indians pops up.

Your moral outrage is not without merit, but understand this: most of the time a person of color goes to 'white' countries for a better life. This woman's case is an exception, but then again perceptions are often based upon repeated occurrences. Since most Indians abroad are workers, people are going to make that assumption every time a story about Indians pops up.

Click to expand...

That is not quite true that most go to 'white' countries go for a better life. They may go for better opportunities, I will concede.

Quality of life and opportunity are two different things. And they always remain second class. Life without respect, beyond the cosmetic politically correct mish mash is hardly a psychological slave to the soul.

An average middle class chap can afford servants, even if it is part time. In 'white' countries, he will have to fend for himself, slog and eat out of paper bags worthless packaged food, albeit fancily packed.

In India, he can eat fresh food that will do wonders for health. I have seen many a Indian origin citizens of foreign country head straight for the market to buy a whole lot of fresh food and fruits and are horrified if we offer them tinned or packaged food.

I could do on.

Happiness is a comparative term.

Or, at least, I remember the sanitary staff at Heathrow, made me feel sorry that they were women wearing shabby salwar and kameez, the land of origin unknown.

And the whites who come and stay in India are, if I get your drift, are not here for a better life? What is William Dalrymple, Mark Tulley etc are here in India for? They are here to make their lives worse? They have lived here for years and are making their fortunes.